Thursday, March 19, 2015

In
this post i am sharing an incident, which was quite unusual to be done,
especially by a monarch, who happened to be the Emperor of Hindustan.
This incident pertains to the practice of "Sati" which was stopped by
personal intervention of Mughal Emperor Akbar.

In simple terms,
Sati is a practice, according to which, a wife committed herself to the
funeral pyre of her husband at the latter's death, willingly or
unwillingly. This practice is NOT restricted to a single community or a
place. Incidents of Sati have been found across Indian subcontinent in
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Bengal, Odisha, Coromandel Coast
area, Nepal, etc. etc.

In the beginning, i said, this event was
unusual as this was a rare case for an Emperor to personally intervene
in order to save the life of a lady. First, it was against the
well-established customs of those times. Second, the Emperor traveled
long on his horse to stop this practice.

Let's start the post.

The lady whom Akbar saved in 1583, from getting immolated in the funeral pyre of her deceased husband was Rani Damyenti. Later, she died a natural death in 1627.Mother - Rani Jaswant Ji, daughter of Rao Durzan of the principality of Varsingot. She died in 1601.Father - Mota Raja Udai Singh of Jodhpur(don't confuse him with Rana Udai Singh of Mewar). Jagat Gosain(Jodh Bai), who got married to Salim 4 years after this incident, was also his daughter from a different wife. Mota Raja died in 1595.Issue - She had 2 sons. One of her sons' name was also Udai Singh.

Her husband was the Thakur of Mertha. His name was Jai Mal. He died at Chausa in Bengal, in 1583.

Historian Smith has described this incident as a romantic*
adventure, characteristic of "Akbar at his best", which shows that even
when he was past 40 he retained the activity and chivalrous spirit of
his youth. JaiMal of Deosa was a close cousin of Raja Bhagwan Das
of Amer who had been assigned to Imperial Office on an urgent task in
the area of Chausa in Bengal. He rode hard to comply with urgent orders,
and died near Chausa from the effects of the heat and over-exertion.
His widow, a daughter of Udai Singh, did not want to commit herself to
the funeral pyre, as was the prevalent "custom". But her son, also named
Udai Singh, and some other relatives insisted that, she must burn.
Abu'l Fazl records in Akbarnama that - Akbar came to know of this news
while he was in his Female Apartments / harem , and it was early
morning. Getting the news, at once, he resolved to prevent the
sacrifice. He jumped on a horse and rode to the spot, unattended and
unescorted by the royal guards, although some of his personal guards
galloped after him as soon as they learned of his disappearance. He was
in time, and his unexpected arrival stopped the proceedings. At first he
was very eager to execute the guilty parties who forced the lady, but
on consideration he granted them their lives and merely imprisoned them
for a short period.

* Romantic does not means that Akbar was in
Love with that widow..! :-P This is more about praise and to render a
sense of chivalry to this remarkable act at the age past 40. :)

The words from an abridged translation/extract of Akbarnama are as follows -

" In
the interior of Hindustan it is the custom, when a husband dies, for
his widow willingly and cheer­fully to cast herself into the flames (of
the funeral pile), although she may not have lived happily with him.
Occasionally love of life holds her back, and then the husband's
relations assemble, light the pile, and place her upon it, thinking that
they thereby preserve the honour and character of the family. But since
the country had come under the rule of his gracious Majesty,
inspec­tors had been appointed in every city and district, who were to
watch carefully over these two cases, to discriminate between them, and
to prevent any woman being forcibly burnt. About this time, Jai Mal, who
had been sent with his forces to join the amírs in Bengal, died of
sunstroke in the vicinity of Chausa. His wife, the daughter of Mota
Raja, was unwilling to burn; but her son Udai Singh, with a party of his
bigoted friends, resolved upon the sacrifice. The
matter came to the Emperor's knowledge, and his feeling of justice and
humanity made him fear that if he sent messengers to stop the
proceedings, some delay might occur, so he mounted his horse, and rode
with all speed to the place. As the facts were not
fully known, some of these men, in their thoughtlessness, were disposed
to resist and make disturbances. But when His Majesty arrived, Jagganath
and Rai Sal came forward to meet him, and brought the leader of these
foolish men to him. He accepted their assurance of repentance, and only
placed them in con­finement."

"
One of the occurrences was that the grand-daughter of Rao Maldeo
obtained a new life. In the wide country of India, on account of
truth-choosing, and jealous honour, when the husband dies, his wife,
though she have spent her days in distress, gives herself to the fire
with an expanded heart and an open brow. And if from wickedness and love
of life she refrain from doing this, her husband's relatives assemble
and light the flame, whether she be willing or unwilling. They regard
this as preserving their honour and reputation. From the time that this
ever-vernal country has been kept verdant and fresh by the justice of
the world's lord, vigilant and truthful men have been appointed in every
city and district in order that the two classes of cases may be
continually kept distinct, and that forcible burning may not be
permitted.

At
this time H.M. had sent Jaimal by relays of horses to the Bengal
officers. On account of immoderate expedition, and the excessive heat,
the torch of his existence was extinguished in the neighbourhood of
Chausa. His wife, the daughter of the Mota Raja Udai Singh, had not the
courage to burn herself. Udai Singh, her son and some bold and foolish
persons set themselves to work this injustice (to make her burn). It was
high dawn when the news came to H.M.'s female apartments. The
just sovereign fearing that if he sent others there would be delay,
mounted a swift horse and went off to the spot. As the circumstances
were not known there was confusion for some time.Foolish
talkers, and imaginative simpletons, made up wonderful stories of a
fight. The loyal and devoted, and the happy warriors, got agitated and
assembled in troops. There was a time of confusion and they set about
putting on their armour and making ready for battle.

The
loyal but feeble-minded were at a loss, while the strong and
well-disposed galloped off. The two-faced and wicked misunderstood
matters and talked unintelligently. The crooked in their ways and the
inwardly dark raised a song of triumph. Such had been the rapidity that
even the guards had not been able to come up, but some of the personal
attendants arrived near the spot. The faction gave up their proceed­ings
in presence of the Shahinshah's majesty. When
that cavalier of fortune's arena had come near the spot, Jagannath(son
of Raja BharMal) and Rai Sal went ahead and seized the ringleader of the
ignorant and turbulent ones and brought him to His Majesty. The
appreciative sovereign read the writing of repentance on the foreheads
of the crew, and in all this ebullition of anger gave them their lives,
but imprisoned them. In a short time the prudent prince made use
of justice, graciousness, and courage, and brought things into
tranquillity. The dust of turbulence was laid and the pean of joy rose
high. "

Following points will help you all to understand the above info in a better manner:

1. There is another person named Jai Mal who died in the Battle of Chittor in 1568. Do not confuse him with the JaiMal mentioned in this post.

2. Serving in Bengal was
tough. The toughness of the climate and extreme situation of Bengal can
be ascertained from the fact that, the Mughal soldiers who served in
Bengal were to be given DOUBLE the pay compared to the
soldiers serving in REST of the Sultanate.This was an order of Akbar
somewhere after 1575, during the time when Shah Mansoor was handling financial affairs. More can be read about that incident here. Click Here -> LINK3.
Abu'l Fazl has not given the details of the place where Akbar travelled
to save the concerned lady. It would seem from reading Jarett, II,
Pg-288, that he travelled as far as Loni, which is in Ranthambore, in
the Sarkar of Revari ; because this was the current residence of that
royal family. But, the place itself is not explicitly mentioned in
Akbarnama, as we saw above.4. Ain-i-Akbari, II, Pg-42, Jarett ; states that "Akbar insisted on the principle that no widow should be forced to burn against her will." So, Akbar was against FORCED Sati practice.5. Abul Fazl tells us that it was Early Morning when Akbar got this news, while he was in his harem.6.
The husband of the lady, JaiMal was a nephew of Raja BharMal. I had
mentioned earlier, in my post on Marriage of Akbar and MUZ, that JaiMal
was the FIRST person who met Akbar in January 1562, as a representative
of Amer Family for negotiations before the marriage. After JaiMal, his
father Rupsi met Akbar. And, at last it was Raja Bharmal himself who met
Akbar. You can read more at this post: 453rd Marriage Anniversary of Akbar-MUZ - Part 27. JaiMal, son of Rupsi, had his estate in Deosa, in Jaipur. Rupsi was brother of Raja Bharmal of Amer. Jai Mal was the cousin of Raja Bhagwan Das, Raja Jagannath Das, Harka Bai(MUZ) , as their fathers were REAL brothers.

So,
this was the story where Akbar stopped a forced Sati practice. In
medieval ages, when there were NO women or human rights organizations,
in those days, such an act by Akbar, itself speaks volumes about the
thought process of this remarkable man - whom we still remember.

Abhay whatever posting you make is really thrilling and interesting to read and whatever we perceive from that post gives us knowledge and during dicussions i narrate it to my own people and everybody feels that i have a lot of knowledge about history. especially as the serial is going on now. in groups whenever discussion comes when i explain they listen with curiosity and i always mention yours and radhika's name. they too feel that they would have shown in the serial these real incidents. thanks a lot to both of you for the knowledge i gained from your posts

i was waiting for this info so long Abhay u made it very nicely with all the prof very well hinted and point outing the prof it so good that to read thankS but its really a new mess for me that he married that woman to till now it did know about it

Akbar did so much for women in those days - he made it necessary that girls must give their consent for marriage, passed laws against child marriage, discouraged marriage among close cousins, prevented forced sati of widows, provided inheritance rights to girls, ....I even read that he passed a law that no man could marry a girl who was more than 12 years younger to him.

Sometimes I wonder just what it was that drove Akbar to care for women and their rights / welfare at a time when women were treated like cattle and had no wajood of their own.

Thank you Abhay, for highlighting yet another noble act of Akbar's. Extremely progressive in thought, Akbar set an example for the betterment of women in the 16th century itself. I wish Akbar was alive to rule today's India.

The point that bugs me is that Akbar was concerned about every aspect related to the betterment of women and himself valued the women in his family but all people today can see is that "he had a huge harem and so must have been a womanizer."

People should look deeper and understand how Akbar treated women instead of blindly censuring him.

The reason for starting this blog was to provide unbiased and prejudice-free information about Akbar, MUZ and other related historical figures / events. Otherwise, there is no dearth of "content" on the internet. :)

And the reason for providing references as far as possible is just so people can read for themselves and not just satisfy that what is written here is true but go further and learn more. Sharing info on blog among all of us is like lighting candles - more the candles, more the light (of knowledge) that is spread to dispel the darkness of myth and ignorance.:)

I completely agree with you Radhika. Just because Akbar had a huge harem, we cannot conclude that he was a skirt-chaser. The ladies of the harem as we all know became part of the harem through numerous wars and political alliances. Akbar was much more than a romancer. He truly respected women, their intelligence, capabilities and above all the feminine spirit. The laws that he laid out to safeguard the self-respect of a woman proves it. The respect and admiration that he had, for his mother Mariam Makani, hindu wife Heer Kunwar/ Jodha Bai, Salima Sultan clearly indicate that he held them in high esteem. If he did not sincerely respect them, these ladies would never have had a major role to play in the Mughal court, leave alone issue farmans. For a man of the 16th century, Akbar was extremely progressive, had no ego issues praising and accepting a smart woman. I wish political leaders today learn a few lessons from history as to how to address women respectfully and treat them with dignity.

Abhay,Such a heroic action by Akbar, the Shehanshah, n also great act by u to hv discovered this and put in the public domain.! Reading this post,my respect fr Akbar has risen to different height. He was a man of right thinking, with all good human qualities. Thank Abhay fr this unusual info.

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